Thousands of Indians from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and other states bordering Nepal swarmedto the Himalayan republic’s southern plainsTuesday to attend a notorious Hindu fair there and sacrifice animals and birds in the hope their wishes would be fulfilled.

While a debate began to grow in Nepal about the Gadhimai Fair in Bara district and the wanton cruelty it inflicted on animals, the festival drew its strength from zealous Indian attendees who have been flocking to it every five years in a bid to circumvent the ban imposed on animal sacrifices in their own states.

The name on everyone’s lips on Tuesday, when the slaughter of buffaloes started, was that of Raman Thakur, a farmer from Sitamarhi in Bihar who sacrificed 105 buffaloes to show his gratitude. The goddess, Thakur said, had answered the prayer he had made five years ago by granting him a son.

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Thousands of Indians from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and other states bordering Nepal swarmedto the Himalayan republic’s southern plainsTuesday to attend a notorious Hindu fair there and sacrifice animals and birds in the hope their wishes would be fulfilled.

While a debate began to grow in Nepal about the Gadhimai Fair in Bara district and the wanton cruelty it inflicted on animals, the festival drew its strength from zealous Indian attendees who have been flocking to it every five years in a bid to circumvent the ban imposed on animal sacrifices in their own states.

The name on everyone’s lips on Tuesday, when the slaughter of buffaloes started, was that of Raman Thakur, a farmer from Sitamarhi in Bihar who sacrificed 105 buffaloes to show his gratitude. The goddess, Thakur said, had answered the prayer he had made five years ago by granting him a son.

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Nepal’s capital city, Kathmandu, has run out of goats to sacrifice just days before the country’s biggest religious festival of the year.The government has been forced to send officials into the countryside to look for animals to help ease the shortage in Kathmandu.Goats and other animals are ritually slaughtered and eaten during the Hindu festival of Dashain to appease the goddess of power, Durga.

Bijaya Thapa, deputy general manager at the Nepal Food Corporation, said: “Kathmandu city faces a shortage of goats during the festival, which always brings a high demand for goat meat.”We are bringing goats in to ease the supply and to control dramatic price hikes.”More